THE EFFECTS OF POLITICAL COMPETITION ON TOWN COUNCIL MANAGEMENT AND HDB RESALE PRICES

Abstract

Elected Members of Parliament (MPs) in Singapore are tasked to directly oversee the management of town councils under their constituencies in addition to their parliamentary duties as elected representatives. Singapore’s ruling party has enjoyed a monopolistic control over the majority of town councils with little to no competition until recent years; a fact that could disincentivize progressive performance and inhibit residents from enjoying a better provision of town council services in Singapore. Following the politicized nature of town council management and increases in political competition in recent years, this paper examines the impact of increased political competition on the management performance of town councils in Singapore, and on the combined effect of political competition and town council management on Housing & Development Board (HDB) resale flat prices before and after the significantly contested general election held in 2011. Increased political competition was ascertained to have positively correlated with town council management, and a combination of increased political competition and improvements in town council management has been found to have positively affected HDB resale prices in PAP-led wards from 2011 to 2015.